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DISCOURSE 



ON THE DEATH OF 



JUDGE EVERETT. 



DISCOURSE, 



DELIVERED AT DORCHESTER, 



March 29th, 1815, 



AT THE FUNERAL 



OF 



MOSES EVERETT, ESQ. 



BY REV. THADDEUS MASON HARRIS. 



•'What saith this transportation of my friends ? 
It bids me love the plnce where now they dwell. 
And scorn the wretched spot they leave so poor." 



BOSTON : 
rVBLISHED BY JOSHUA. BELCHEU. 



1813. 



F 






D^E^ 



6 



FUNERAL DISCOURSE. 



It is a solemn, and, to me, a very affecting dispensa- 
tion of Divine Providence, which has called me to 
the duty I have now to perform ; but I shall aim to 
do it in such a manner as to make these mournful 
obsequies an excitement to your increased respect 
for the memory and imitation of the virtues of the 
venerable person, whose death you so sincerely de- 
plore. For this purpose I quote, and shall comment 
upon, that passage of Scripture which you will find 
recorded in the second verse of the first chapter in 
the book of Joshua. 



Joshua, i. 2. 
MOSES, MY SERVANT, IS DEAD. 

This is the notice sriven bv the Deitv of the de- 
cease of him who had been the guide and legislator 
of ihe Jews for several years. 

Had Joshua, or even the whole people, in their la- 
mentations at the death of Moses, spoken of him as 



" the servant of the Lord," it would surely have been 
an appi opriate title, and a suitable expression of their 
just estimate of the office which he had sustained ; 
but when Jehovah himself acknowledges him in 
this character, it confers exalted praise. Pleasing is 
the commendation of men^ especially when conferred 
on real worth and merit ; but what is this to " the 
honour which cometh from God ?" 

In some important sense we arc all servants of him, 
who, as our Creator, is also our rightful Lord and 
Sovereign ; but the title is generally given to men. 
on account of some office which they are called to 
sustain, and some special service which, either as his 
messengers or ministers, they are appointed to per- 
form. " These men are the servants of the most 
high God, who shew unto us the way of salvation."* 

To be occupied as a servant to such a master, is 
a dignified station ; to be engaged in carrying into 
execution the plans and purposes of infinite wisdom 
and goodness, is a noble employment ; and high 
commendation and great rewards will be given to 
him who is diligent and faithful in his trust. " Blessed 
is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall 
find so doing." 

It was certainly more honourable to Moses to be 
called " the servant of God," than to be hailed King 
in Jeshurun : but though he was God's servant in a 
very peculiar and exalted sense, as his prime minis- 

* Acts, xvi. 17, 



tcr in dispensing his laws, yet he was but a mortal ; 
and when the purposes of his embassy were accom- 
plished, and he had served his generation according 
to the divine will and direction, he must obey the 
last awful summons, and die. And this is equally 
the doom of all the servants of God, however holy, 
important, or useful. They are discharged from ser- 
vice, and removed out of this world, when they have 
finished the work that was given them to do. *' They 
rest from their labours and their works follow them,'" 
They are raised from their humble station on earthy 
to receive a reward from their Master in heaven, and 
to be introduced to employments of a higher kind, 
among his more immediate attendants, " v.here his 
servants shall serve him" with far greater advantage 
than they have ever done before, and with increasing 
zeal and everlasting delight. 

" Happy are these his servants who staiid continu- 
ally before him" in the heavenly mansions, hearken- 
ing to the voice of his word, and swift and unwearied 
in the execution of his pleasure ! Happy, too, are 
they who, in the lower offices of his service on earth, 
are, like Moses, "faithful in all his house. "^■ 

To the FIDELITY of that eminent servant of God, 
the Scriptures bear the most honourable testimony. 
In connexion with which, there are some other traits 
in his character, which, as the writer of the book 
of Ecclesiasticus declares, caused Moses to be " bc- 

* Hebrews, iii. S. 



loved of God and iTian, and make his memorial 
blessed."* 

Among the qualities for which he was pre-emi- 
nently distinguished, was that mild disposition, that 
sedate spirit, and that patience and condescension 
which he uniformly displayed, even on the most try- 
ing occasions. He endured the complaints and mur- 
murings and reproaches of a discontented people, 
with such unruffled calmness and equanimity, that he 
obtained this remarkable encomium, that " he was 
meek above all the men that dwelt upon the face of 
the earth. "t 

In these particulars, so amiable and commendable 
in him, his character may be held up for our model 
and imitation. Though we may not be called to an. 
exalted office as " leaders of the people," where su- 
perior talents are requisite and arduous duties to be 
performed ; yet we may grace the lowest station in 
life with " the ornament of a 7n>eek and guiet spirit, 
which, in the sight of God, is of great price ;"| and 
may secure the approbation of men on earth and of 
our Master in heaven, by the faithfulness with which 
we discharge even the humblest duties. 

Let me, then, from the example of Moses, the ser- 
vant and the friend of God, and with a special refer- 
ence to one who possessed a kindred spirit, and to 
whom we pay these funeral rites, recommend to you, 
my hearere, to cherish and exercise the disposition of 

* Ecclesiasticus, xlv. 1. t Numbers, xii. 3. %\ Peter, iii. 4. 



i^EEKNEss, and to serve God and your generation 
with all good fidelity. 

By MEEKNESS, whicli is the evidence of a humble 
and lowly heart, and of a well regulated mind, you 
will imitate your blessed Master, who possessed this 
disposition in an eminent degree, and who enjoined 
his followers to learn of him its practice and import- 
ance. Though so mild and unassuming as to make 
no pretence, and shun all ostentation, it yet holds an 
important place among the Christian graces, is fa- 
vourable to the cultivation and improvement of every 
other virtue, and is of high estimation in the sight of 
God. " The Lord loveth the meek — the meek will 
he guide in judgment — the meek will he shew his 
way — the meek will he beautify with his salvation."* 

By FIDELITY in the improvement of your talents, 
opportunities, and stations, you will answer the de- 
sign of your existence, benefit society, obtain the 
praise which cometh of God, and acquire a claim 
upon the grateful remembrance of your fellow men. 
How honourable that claim is, and how estimable 
personal worth and virtue, and public services and 
fidelity are, you must affectingly realize in the pub- 
lic tribute which this church and town are now pay- 
ing to the memory of that venerable man, whose re- 
mains are before you. From you^ indeed, this is the 
testimony of high regard to your former Pastor and 

* Comp. Psalm xxii. 26, xxv. 9, xxxvii. 11, cxlix. 4, Isaiah, xxix. 2, 
Zephaniah, ii. 3. 



rauch respected fellow- townsman : — from me, the 
oblation of affection and gratitude to him whom I es- 
teemed as a patron, loved as a friend, and revered as 
a christian. 

To you he was first known as a preacher of the 
gospel, and such was your approbation of him m that 
character, that you elected and settled him as your 
Pastor. This solemn and important office he sus- 
tained for eighteen years and about four months ; 
when, by reason of ill health, he was induced to ask 
a dismission. 

As your religious instructor, he taught the essen- 
tial doctrines, and inculcated the important precepts 
of our holy religion with plainness and perspicuity ; 
and preached as he lived, with unaffected simplicity 
and godly sincerity ; discovering in the pulpit a hum- 
ble desire and pious endeavour to promote your spi- 
ritual edification, and in the walks of parochial duty, 
*' shewing, out of a good conversation, his works with 
meekness of wisdom." 

After being obliged, in consequence of bodily in- 
disposition, to retire from his ministerial office, it was 
still his desire to be useful ; and having served God 
according to his ability, to serve his generation by 
the will of God. This desire he was enabled to carry 
into effect, on his restoration to a comfortable, though 
not an uninterrupted, state of health ; and he was em- 
ployed, respected, and useful, in various departments 
of civil life ; and filled, with fidelity, important offices 



in society, as a Representative of the town, a Justice 
of the Peace, and a Jiidj^e in the county Court. 

The pubHc estimation in which our departed friend 
was held, was founded on solid worth, respectable 
talents, and a known zeal to serve the community. 

Possessed of a sound understanding and well im- 
proved mind, lie was siigacious in his discernment 
and correct in his oj)inions ; and though remarkably 
cool, cautious, and deliberate in making up his judg- 
ment, his decision was firm and his determination 
judicious.. This secured him universal approbation 
as an excellent adviser, a worthy magistrate, 
and an upright and righteous Judge. 

As a Patriot, he maintained a firm, consistent, 
and true regard to the best interests, the liberties, and 
the welfare of our countrv ; and accordinsrlv was hon- 
cured by those who are the real friends of 

ORDER, independence, AND PEACE. ll is |)ar- 

ticularly in this character that his loss is most sin- 
cerely deplored by the respectable society in thib town, 
in which he held the second office ; a lt)ss the more 
sensibly felt, as following so immediately that of their 
President. "■'^ "Help, Lord, for the godly man 
ceaseth, the faithful fail from among the children 
of men !" 

But his public virtues, though more conspicuous, 
were not his principal excellencies. His private 

• EnENE'iiER Wales, Esq. who was President of" the Washuigton Be- 
nevolent Society in Dorchester, died Miirch 1st. 
O 



10 

WORTH was enhanced by the benignity of his dispo- 
sition, and the artless simplicity olhis manners. He 
had a felicity of temper, and a calmness and moder- 
ation of his passions beyond most other men, which 
he so improved by his constant self-government, that 
his mind seemed to be the region of perpetual seren- 
ity : and diis evenness and harmony within produced 
an answerable equality in his outward demeanour, 
which was always courteous, affable, and pleasant, — 
benevolent, social, and friendly. 

He was perfectly dispassionate ; and, with remark- 
able prudence and integrity, possessed an honesty and 
frankness which never suifered him to dissemble or 
to flatter. You saw his heart at once, and might de- 
pend upon his word. Above all prevarication or dis- 
guise, he was sincere in his professions, upright in 
his dealings, and faithful in his engagements. 

In the connexions of domestic life he possessed 
and exercised those amiable qualities, which rendered 
him an object of the most entire affection to his fam- 
ily and relations. — Ah, how great is their loss ! How 
grievous the weight of affliction that now presses sore 
upon them. 

Bereaved and disconsolate mourners ! your best 
earthly friend, guide, and councellor is taken from 
you. But there remains to you the benefit of his in- 
structions, the image of his virtues, and the example 
of his life. With the precious recollection of these, 
you have also the promises of God, your unfiiiling 



11 

comforter, to invite your confidence and cnconrai^e 
your hope ; for he hath given the gracious assurance, 
that " the children of his servants sliall continue, aiid 
their seed be established before iiim."* 

While we sympathize most tenderly with you in 
your sorrows, vAe pray that divine grace may tran- 
quilize your minds, and afford you support and con- 
solation. 

In this solemn hour, and with this affecting spec- 
tacle before us, we revert in pensive thought to our 
deceased friend. Busy memory recals the particu- 
lars of our acquaintance with him, freshens the recol- 
lection of his worth and of our obligations, and hur- 
ries us to the melancholy termination. 

In the midst of his usefulness, about a year since, 
he was seized with a paralytic shock, from which, 
indeed, he gradually recovered ; and the hopes of his 
beloved family, his relations, and his acquaintance, to 
whom his life was so desirable, were revived. But 
he himself was aware that " he had the sentence of 
death within him," and that his apparent restoration 
was only a temporary reprieve. Under tliis impres- 
sion, however, he still preserved his usual steadiness 
and composure of mind, and waited with meek anti- 
cipation a renewed shock, which he was apprehensive 
would be sudden, and might be fatal. To a mind 
thus disposed, death could not be unexpected. Re- 
signed to the will of heaven, full of christian faith and 

* Psalm cil. 28. 



12 

holy hope, he daily looked forward to the event. 
Without warning it came, and was sudden — rapid — 
final. 

The service and labours of his life are now closed, 
and he has gone to receive his reward. To us be- 
longs the mournful ceremony of attending his body 
to the tomb, and the duty of cherishing his memory 
in our hearts. There, indeed, his memory will live, 
associated with the purest and most grateful recol- 
lections, till these hearts shall cease to beat ; and 
then, departing ourselves from the employments of 
time, we hope that these affections will be again 
renewed in the associations of a blessed eternity. 

This, my friends, is one of those affecting instances 
in which God destroys the hope of man, by taking 
away those who were useful and revered, whose 
talents, services, example and virtues rendered them 
a public blessing, and wiio made the world better 
by living in it. It is also one of those solemn events 
which justly excites our anxiety — for " the righteous 
are taken away from the evil to come ;" removed by 
a dispensation, gracious to them, but alarming to 
us, from the more awful judgments of heaven ready 
to be inflicted on a degenerate age : in which we are 
not to weep for them, but for ourselves and our 
children. 

In these uncertain and unquiet times, when the 
world is up in arms, and the affairs of human beings 
wear a troubled and threatening aspect ; when the 



13 

whole moral and political hemisphere looks lowering 
and dark ; when we hear of nothing but wars and 
rumours of wars, and all seems perplexing and dis- 
couraging, it is a consoling consideration thai there 
is peace in the grave. " There the wicked cease 
from troubling, .md there the weary find repose ;" 
and they can hide themselves there " until these 
calamities are overpust." Still more gladdening is 
the assurance, thiit "there remaineth a rest fo; ihe 
people ol God," of most secure and undij^tnrbed 
tranquillity, of perfect and unending bliss. There, 
the ap{)rehensioiis which now agitate our minds, the 
sorrows which no /. rend our hearts, and the l)ere;!ve- 
ments which now divide us from our virtuous 
frit ndh, will be known no n.ore. 

lii the mean time, these trials and afflictions arc 
meant and calculated to wean ouraftections from this 
present evil work!, and increase our desiies after "a 
better country, that is, a heavenly :" while the so- 
licitude we feel for the situation of our own, and the 
distress of other nations, leads us to congratulate 
those who have escaped the conflicts, dangers, and 
calamities, to which we are exposed, and may yet 
have to endure.* 

The death of Judge Everett, so afflicting to us, 
was happy for him. He died, indeed, unseasonably 

• "Behold, therefore, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shall 
come to thy grave in peace, and thine eyes shall not see all the evil 
which I will bring- upon this place."— 2 Kings, xxii. 20. 



14 

as it respects society, for his influence and exertions 
were much needed, and might do much good ; but 
his death was seasonable to himself, for he was pre- 
pared and ready. Though the loss which his family, 
his friends, and the community sustain is very great, 
yet it cannot but be a satisfaction to all, that he was 
assured that for him to die would be unspeakable 
gain. While, therefore, we pay these funeral hon- 
ours which we owe to his worth, and in grateful 
acknowledgement of the benefit we have derived 
from his instructions and his services, may we imitate 
whatever was excellent in his character, and cherish 
the christian hope with which his latter end was 
cheered, and of which he has now gone to share the 
fruition ! 



15 



The folloiving Obituary Notice is inserted from the {luhlic 
pafierst with the addition of a few notes and dates. 

" Moses Everett, Esq. of Dorchester., whose death was lately 
announced, was born in Dt-f/Aa???, of respectable parents, July 15, 
O.S. in the year 1750. He was the youngest but one of nine chil- 
dren. He pursued his studies with a view to enter college, under 
the care of Mr. Balch, the minister of Dcdham., (whose daughter 
he afterwards married) and after the usual course of preparation, 
was admitted at Cambridge, and received his first degree in 1771. 
His education had been w ith a view to the profession of a chris- 
tian minister, which on leaving college, he adopted. When 
the church in Dorchester became \aeant by the dismission of 
Mr. Bowman, he was invited to preach there, and September 
28th, 1774, was ordained to the pastoral charge of that ancient 
and respectable town then consisting of one parish. He remain- 
ed in this ministry eighteen years,* and performed the duties of 
it to the satisfaction and improvement of his people. At the end 
of that period, the declining state of his health compelled him to 
relinquish an office, v/hich he was to feeble to fulfil and too 
conscientious to neglect, and in the year 1793, he requested and 
obtained a dismission. 

"The approbation of his townsmen distinguished Mr. Everett 
in his retirement, and the next year after he left the pulpit, he 
was elected one of the Representatives oi Dorchester,in the Gen- 
eral Court, and took his seat accordingly, but the prevalence of 
different opinions on politics prevented him from being returned 
again. Afterwards he received a commission of Justice of the 
Peace, was made Special Justice of the Court of Coiiimon Pleas 
of jYorfolk County, and in the year 1808 was appointed to fill the 
vacancy on the bench of that Court, occasioned by the death of 
his brother, Oliver Everett, Esq. In this situu'lon ho acted 

* rmil January 14, l7Po. 



16 

with integrity and ability, and held it until the abolition of the 
Court. This was the last duty of a public nature that he was 
called upon to exercise. His health continued feeble, and by 
repeated paralytic shocks he was deprived of vigor, and finally of 
life."* 



During his ministry he published ^^ J Sermon before the Society 
of Young Men in Dorch-ster" February 1, 1778, and '■'• A Sermon 
at the Ordinatiov of hi.-) brother, Rev. Oliver Everett, to the 
/lastoral care of the A''etv-Sou'h Church in Boston" 1782. 

From the Sermon fireached to The Socic'.ies of Young Men, the 
following extract is made, with a hofie that it will serve to renew 
their zeal, and confirm them in the pious fiurfioses of their asso- 
ciation. 
" It is a happy consideration, that a'didst all the degeneracy of 
the times, the ancient religious Societies of young Men, are up- 
held among us. That there are still so many who are willing 
to own a regard for the interests of religion, while it is so generally 
disregarded and contenmed by the youth. Such societies, arc 
indeed worthy a particular shai'e in the affection of all good men. 
They are honorable — they are greatly ornamental to religion — and 
tend much to the advancement of its dignity and interests. Let 
my young brethren, however, be cautioned, not to rest in their 
character alone, and trust to that for the divine acceptance and 
approbation. Your uniting yoiu'selves for tiie purpose of God's 
worship and service is, iiuleed, a good evidence that you are 
seeking the Lord ; but this does not prove that you are heartily 
engaged in the cause of religion, and have entered into the spirit 
of it — and unless this is the case, notwithstanding your shew and 
appearance of religion, you may not expect to be accepted, and 

* He died March Q.y, 1813, leaving' a widow aiul ten children ; — one by 
his first wile, one by ihe second, and eig'ht by his relict, the third. 



17 

app«Dvccl of God. You nmst not only have liie form, but experi- 
ence the power of godliness, as you would wish for the divine 
Approbation, and have a title to the happy fruits of God's favour. 
You will then bear it continually in mind, that to £;ct interested 
in Christ by faith — to have your souls sanctified by the Holy 
Ghost — and to have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts, Ts 
the foundation of all true piety, and without which, the most spe- 
cious pretensions to religion are vain. I do not, indeed, suspect 
your sincere and pious views, in the profession which you make. 
I only caution you, in love, to suspect yourselves, and so guard 
against that which spoils the most splendid professions, and ren- 
ders the greatest shew of godliness, despicable and odious in the 
sight of God— a want of sincerity, and a principle of grace and 
holiness, in the soul. Be guided by these, and you cannot fail of 
being accepted of God, in your social acts of piety and religion, 
and in all the branches of duty, in which you engage. — And now, 
brethren, I commend you unto God, who is able to build you up, 
and give you an inheritance among those that are sanctified." 

NOTE. 

On the 25th, of December, 1698, a number of young persons, 
actuated by a love for religion, and a desire to promote the advance- 
ment of eachotherin the offices of piety, agreed upon " a private 
weekly meeting for religious exercise and the good improvement 
of the evening of the Lord's day." 

About eleven years afterwards, as the members had become 
numerous, and it was inconvenient to assemble in one place, it 
was deemed advisable to divide ; and one branch of the society 
continued to meet in the south part of the town, and the other in the 
north. 

The society is composed of serious young men, who continue 
members till they form family connexions, or leave the town. 
There is no recollection of a single instance of the expulsion of 



LIBRARY OF CONGRti>b 



18 



014 077 474 1 



an individual for ill conduct, or of any one having desired to l^ave 
the society from dislike. The utmost harmony and fraternal af- 
fection have prevailed in their meetings, and the institution has 
not only aided and increased the devotional regards of the mem- 
bers, but led to the ready and regular performance of family re- 
ligion. 

On the completion of a century from the foundation of the soci- 
ety, a sermon was preached to the elder branch, by the present 
Minister, on Hebrews, vi. 11, 12. and on February 1 Itli, 1809, the 
century of the second was commemorated in a discourse fsom 
Hebrews, x. 23, 34, 25. 




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